精美英文欣赏:暴风雨的荣光

Glories of the Storm

暴风雨的荣光

It begins when a feeling of stillness creeps into my consciousness.Everything has suddenly gone quiet.

起初，有一种平静的感觉悄然爬上我的心头。

Birds do not chirp¹. Leaves donot rustle².

世间万物，顿趋沉寂。鸟儿不再啁啾，树叶不再飒飒，

Insects do not sing.

昆虫不再吟唱。

The air that has been hot all day becomes heavy.

整天灼热的空气格外沉闷，

It hangs over thetrees, presses the heads of the flowers to the ground, sits on myshoulders.

笼罩着树木，逼迫花朵低下了头，还好像坐压于我的双肩。

With a vague feeling of uneasiness I move to the window.

怀着茫然的不安，我走到窗前。

There, in the west, lies the answer-cloud has piled on cloudto form a ridge³ of mammoth⁴ white towers, rearing against bluesky.

原来，答案就在西边天际-云层重重叠叠，就像一排嵯峨的白塔，高耸于蓝天。

Their piecing whiteness is of brief duration.

承前启后的白色，稍瞬即逝。

Soon themarshmallow rims⁵ flatten⁶ to anvil⁷ tops, and the clouds revealtheir darker nature.

顷刻间，葵花状的云边变得像铁砧一样平展，云层也露出了更黑的本色。

They impose themselves before thelate-afternoon sun, and the day darkens early.

它们强行遮住西斜的红日，天色早暗。

Then a gust⁸ of windwhips the dust along the road, chill warning of what is tocome.

接着，劲风骤起，鞭挞道路，尘土飞扬。冷飕飕的，警示着即将发生的一切。

In the house a door shuts with a bang, curtains billow into theroom.

“砰”的一声，风关上了一扇房门，窗帘随风扬起，向屋内翻飞。

I rush to close the windows, empty the clothesline, securethe patio⁹ furnishings.

我小跑去关窗，收下晒衣绳上的衣物，收拾好院子里的家什。

Thunder begins to grumble¹⁰ in thedistance.

此刻，远处开始响起隆隆的雷声。

The first drops of rain are huge.

最初的雨点很大，

They splat into the dust andimprint the windows with individual signatures.

扑扑地打在尘土里，在玻璃窗上留下了一个个印记。

They plink on thevent pipe and plunk on the patio roof.

雨点把排气管敲得叮叮当当，把院子顶棚打得噼噼啪啪。

Leaves shudder¹¹ under theirweight before rebounding¹², and the sidewalk wears a coat of shinyspots.

树叶被砸得瑟瑟发抖，抬不起头来。人行道披上了一层亮闪闪的水珠。

The rhythm accelerates; plink follows plunk faster and faster untilthe sound is a roll of drums and the individual drops become anarmy marching over fields and rooftops.

雨点加快节奏，叮叮当当，噼噼啪啪，一阵紧似一阵，最终，似密集的鼓点，连成了一片。

Now the first bolt oflightning stabs the earth. It is heaven’s exclamation¹³ point.

一个个雨点，居然汇成一支大军，铺天盖地，横扫田野，直扑屋顶。

Thestorm is here.

此刻，一道闪电直刺大地– 苍天划出惊叹号。暴风雨来了！

In spite of myself, I jump at the following crack of thunder.

又是一声霹雳，不由自主地，我跳将起来。

It rattles¹⁴ the windowpane and sends the dog scratching to get underthe bed.

窗玻璃被雷声震地格格作响，连狗都吓得三抓两爬地钻入床底。

The next bolt is even closer.

又是一闪，更近了。

It raises the hair on theback of my neck, and I take an involuntary step away from thewindow.

惊得我寒毛倒竖，不由得从窗边后退一步。

The rain now becomes a torrent,flung capriciously by a rising wind.

暴雨倾盆而下，狂风助长雨势，雨柱飘忽不定。

Together they batter¹⁵ the trees and level the grasses.

风雨交加，恣意猛击树木，淹没草地。

Water streams off roofs and out of rain spouts¹⁶.

雨水从房顶，从排水管奔流而下，

It pounds against the window in such a steady wash that I am sightless.

如同瀑布不停地瓢泼重击在窗户上，使我什么也看不清楚。

There is only water.

眼前只有水。

How can so much fall so fast?

怎么有这么多雨水？怎么下得这么急？

How could the clouds have supported this vast weight?

云层怎么承受得住如此巨大的雨水重量？

How ran the earth endure beneath it?

大地如何又承受得了？

1 chirp   

v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫

参考例句：

• The birds chirp merrily at the top of tree.鸟儿在枝头欢快地啾啾鸣唱。
• The sparrows chirp outside the window every morning.麻雀每天清晨在窗外嘁嘁喳喳地叫。

2 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

3 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

4 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

5 rims   

n.（圆形物体的）边( rim的名词复数 )；缘；轮辋；轮圈

参考例句：

• As she spoke, the rims of her eyes reddened a little. 说时，眼圈微红。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• Her eyes were a little hollow, and reddish about the rims. 她的眼睛微微凹陷，眼眶有些发红。 来自辞典例句

6 flatten   

v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽

参考例句：

• We can flatten out a piece of metal by hammering it.我们可以用锤子把一块金属敲平。
• The wrinkled silk will flatten out if you iron it.发皱的丝绸可以用熨斗烫平。

7 anvil   

n.铁钻

参考例句：

• The blacksmith shaped a horseshoe on his anvil.铁匠在他的铁砧上打出一个马蹄形。
• The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly.订书机上的铁砧安装错位。

8 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

9 patio   

n.庭院，平台

参考例句：

• Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子，我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
• They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。

10 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

11 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

12 rebounding   

蹦跳运动

参考例句：

• The strength of negative temperature concrete is tested with supersonic-rebounding method. 本文将超声回弹综合法用于负温混凝土强度检测。
• The fundamental of basketball includes shooting, passing and catching, rebounding, etc. 篮球运动中最基本的东西包括投篮，传接球，篮板球等。

13 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

14 rattles   

（使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧

参考例句：

• It rattles the windowpane and sends the dog scratching to get under the bed. 它把窗玻璃震得格格作响，把狗吓得往床底下钻。
• How thin it is, and how dainty and frail; and how it rattles. 你看它够多么薄，多么精致，多么不结实；还老那么哗楞哗楞地响。

15 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

16 spouts   

n.管口( spout的名词复数 )；（喷出的）水柱；（容器的）嘴；在困难中v.（指液体）喷出( spout的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水

参考例句：

• A volcano spouts flame and lava. 火山喷出火焰和岩浆。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The oil rushes up the tube and spouts up as a gusher. 石油会沿着钢管上涌，如同自喷井那样喷射出来。 来自辞典例句